Pipeworks Sam vs Unicorn

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #161 [or 151???]) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Imperial Red Ale, 9.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

Nothing says America like random shelf-grabs. I wasn't planning on buying this beer, as I was never overly smitten with the Santa vs. Unicorn, but you know how these things go. So on this Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™, we celebrate July 4th, part II. About Pipeworks:

Pipeworks has humble roots. The brewery was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis. The duo were both homebrewers that met while while working at West Lakeview Liquors. In 2011, they began to raise money for their brewery using the online Internet site, Kickstarter. Olson and Lewis were both educated at De Struise Brewery in Oostvleteren, Belgium. With that knowledge, and the money from their kickstarter, Olson and Lewis created a unique brewery that is smaller in size, and intended to brew smaller batches of beer. The company's motto is "small batches, big beers." And indeed, since the brewery has been around, they've been releasing a lot of one-offs and small batch releases. At one point - and maybe still - the goal was the release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.

Tonight's beer is a big ol' Imperial Amber/Red Ale. The bottle talks abut American hops, and the ABV is dialed up to 9.0%. I'm expecting malts and hops in the Laguintas ballpark. I can dream, right? The back of the bottle states:

"When the weather warms and minds turn to summer's delights, true Americans celebrate our great nation's birth the best way we know how...drinkin' beers and blowin' stuff up. In honor of this most hallowed of traditions we present Sam vs Unicorn, an Imperial Red Ale brewed exclusively with American grown hops. We're sure you'll find to be the perfect pairing for Life, Liberty and the pursuit of semi-controlled explosions."

The beer pours into a hazy, reddish-brown body, and kicks up a finger of caramel-tinted head. The head is sticky, leaving lacing and alcohol legs, and a nice cauldron effect is forming on top of the beer. In bright light the beer is a murky red-orange, with the head picking up some nice amber/orange tones. The bottle art is pretty cool, and definitely has an, "America, fuck yeah!" vibe. 

Pipeworks Sam vs Unicorn

The aroma features bright, spicy hops. I'm getting huge resin, resinous hop punch, some wood, pine, orange, tangerine...and there's some underlying spice like tingly brown sugar or rye or something. There's also some hints of non-specific malt sweetness, hinting at caramel or bread. 

Woah-hey. The taste is surprisingly big and bold. As I recall, this is an immediate improvement from the Santa vs. Unicorn. This really does remind me of something Lagunitas would brew...there's tons of bready/caramel malt sweetness in this, with big blasts of brown sugar and rye-like spice. Between the malt and spice is fat resinous citrus (grapefruit, tangerine, orange, marmalade), some dank hops, resin/sap, and hints of wood and rind. There's big sweetness on the finish, and you feel the weight of the 9.0% ABV with light booze on the end (with some berry?).

My expectations were low, but I'm pleasantly surprised. This beer is doing everything right, and delivers what I want in an Imperial Red Ale. You have a big malty base, lots of brown sugar/rye-esque spice, and tons of resinous hops. Palate depth is outstanding, and complexity is aight. This is medium-full to full-bodied, with perfect carbonation. This is kind of boozy, as you'd expect for 9.0%. But the booze is masked, with just a hint popping up on the back (and the inevitable warming). You get citrus and bready/caramel malts up front; that rolls into brown sugar, rye-esque spice, and more hops; the back is lingering spice/hops, with a flash of malt sweetness. The finish is slightly woody and slightly dry. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Strong Above-Average. Imperial Reds are one of my favorite styles of beer, IF they have that huge malt body and accompanying brown sugar spice. This beer nails the style, with a huge body to support all the hop/malt/spice trimmings. I would definitely recommend grabbing a bottle of this if you see it in the Chicago-land area. I also hope Pipeworks continues to brew this beer or similar versions. The Santa vs. Unicorn was average at best, but this beer is bangin'. I like to pair these malty/spicy Red Ales with spicy Mexican food. You could also pair this beer with pizza, a burger, wings, etc. But spicy Mexican food will really hit the spot. Get some pork or fish tacos...mmm.

Random Thought: So I guess today was the release for Lost Abbey's Duck Duck Gooze, and apparently it was a complete clusterfuck. You'd think they would know by know what with Dark Lord day and all. 

Lagunitas Lucky 13 Mondo Large Red Ale

Brewed By: Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, Illinois; 2013

Style/ABV: Imperial Red Ale, 8.65%

Reported IBUs: 76.92

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away or some shit, I had me Lagunitas' Lucky 13.alt, which was more sublime than heroin trips gone overdose. Tonight I'm drinking the regular Lucky 13. Any beer that uses "Mondo" in the name should come with a doobie and Billabong T-Shirt. I digress. About Lagunitas (Pronounced: "LAH-goo-KNEE-tuss"):

Lagunitas is a brewery I dabbled with when I hit up their controversially named "Kronik" (Lagunitas Censored) back in November 2010. The Lagunitas website has some cool info on the brewery and the beer, and can be found here. The brewery was founded in 1993 out in Lagunitas, California, and has since moved to Petaluma in California. It seems like Lagunitas is run by a bunch of deviant madmen geniuses, and the brewery appears to be a true grassroots movement, if you catch my drift.

According to Lagunitas, the Lucky 13 was originally a 13th anniversary release for 2006. The Lucky 13.alt uses lighter malts (hence the blonde-haired woman on the bottle). The regular Lucky 13 (tonight's beer) features a brunette-haired woman on the bottle. Using my dick wizardry, I can deduce that tonight's beer will have darker malts than the Lucky 13.alt. According to my bottle, tonight's beer clocks in at 8.65% ABV, and packs 76.92 IBUs.

Lagunitas Lucky 13

As you kind of expect, the beer pours an amber/caramel color, and kicks up two to three fingers of dense, soapy, off-white/amber head. In bright light, the beer is a magnificent amber-red color; the head is soapy and sticky and leaving plenty of lacing; the body looks to be filtered, and has nice tiny carbonation bubbles. 

The aroma on this beer is nuts. Lagunitas is doing something right with their Lucky 13, because damn. As I was pouring this beer out I was getting blasted with sweet, bready citrus, resinous tropical fruits, and cake/toffee/brown sugar goodness. There's big brown sugar, pineapple, oranges, mango, and some plum. It's like their Brown Shugga' had an illegitimate love child with their Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale.

This isn't quite as mind-blowing as the Lucky 13.alt was (as per my memory), but this is about as good as a malty hop bomb can get. This beer lays on sweet, sappy, resinous citrus: orange, mango, pineapple, hints of plum. The whole thing is supported by a bready/cake malt base, with big brown sugar, caramel, bread, and biscuit.

This is dense, pushing a full-bodied mouthfeel. The mouthfeel is fat and bready with sweet resinous punch, but is surprisingly drinkable for around 8.7%. This beer screams Lagunitas, and if you've drank a few of their beers, you could probably pull this one out in a blind tasting with ease. That said, palate depth is outstanding, and complexity is not far behind. This veers towards sweet and bready, with resinous/sweet citrus up front; resinous sap and cakey bread in the middle; and bittering-but-still-malt-foward sweet hops on the back. The finish is nutty, bready, and then punches in a nice dryness.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. It's not quite as good as the Lucky 13.alt as per my recollection, and I think the Brown Shugga' and the A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' offer a slightly more fulfilling experience from top to bottom, but this beer is absolutely stellar otherwise. It's also super cheap. Bombers of this were sitting on the shelf for like 4.99. That's a steal. I'm about to pair this with a spicy quesadilla. Spicy as in I'm adding ghost pepper sauce. The sweeter notes in this would do well with wings and sweeter spices or peppers like Habanero or the Bhut Jolokia. For some reason this beer also reminds me of a Margarita, so I feel like Mexican food pairings would work. It's quite tasty, and at 4.99 a bomber you have no reason to not check it out.

Random Thought: Lagunitas is coming to Chicago...and although they've had some delays, I do look forward to their arrival. It's going to be pretty sweet. The craft beer scene in Chicago is booooming! 

Pipeworks Santa vs. Unicorn (American Barleywine Style Ale)

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #64) bought at Binny's in IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Barleywine, 10.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

Even though it's winter in Chicago, it has been incredibly mild (it's currently like 37 degrees out) and there hasn't been much snow. As such, I'm not quite feeling the Imperial Stouts and big winter Belgian Ales. So tonight is the perfect night for a hoppy "Imperial Red Ale/American Style Barleywine." About Pipeworks:

Pipeworks has humble roots. The brewery was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis. The duo were both homebrewers that met while while working at West Lakeview Liquors. In 2011, they began to raise money for their brewery using the online Internet site, Kickstarter. Olson and Lewis were both educated at De Struise Brewery in Oostvleteren, Belgium. With that knowledge, and the money from their kickstarter, Olson and Lewis created a unique brewery that is smaller in size, and intended to brew smaller batches of beer. The company's motto is "small batches, big beers." And indeed, since the brewery has been around, they've been releasing a lot of one-offs and small batch releases. At one point - and maybe still - the goal was the release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.

As per usual, Pipeworks gives a brief description of the beer on the back:

"Father Christmas, Head Beardo, St. Nicholas Cage, a man of many names he may be, yet he has but one true foe... This Holiday Season, the Unicorn is back bearing his mantle of rainbowed chaos, and this time, it's seasonal bitches. An Imperial Red Ale, American Style Barleywine or Red Double IPA call it what you will, grab one and get your Jollies while the holiday fight is on..."   

I suppose I'm rooting for the Unicorn. Into the pink elephant glass...

Pipeworks Santa vs. Unicorn

The beer pours a dark red/brown color, with a pinky's worth of reddish/grey head. The head doesn't hang around for long, but leaves behind a cauldron effect. There's a ton of visible carbonation, in the form of very tiny bubbles. In bright light, this one is a dark red/orange color; the head picks up that red/orange color. This is slightly hazy, but cleaned up nicely for being bottle conditioned. 

The aroma on this features a lot of sweet citrus, zesty orange, and sugary backbone. Right now...this is really hoppy. This beer is certainly a candidate for aging, and the hops will probably drop off this nicely. This smells quite bitter, with big grapefruit, rind, slight wood, pine, that sweet citrus, orange, and a hint of elusive malt sweetness (maybe toffee?). 

If you like hoppy Barleywines, this is quite nice. This blasts your mouth with fat citrus, pine, grapefruit, and wood up front. This is quite bitter, and rolls into a spicy mid-palate, and then a bitter and dry finish. The lingering flavors on this are dry, booze, and then -- surprisingly -- brown sugar and light spice. The hops in this are zesty, citrus, grapefruit, pine, slight wood/bitter, and slightly resinous. There's a lot of malt sweetness, with caramel, toffee, hints of fruitcake or bready alcohol, and definite spice. 

This has the makings of a Barleywine...only time will tell. Actually, there's a nice malt sweetness and spice backbone to this, I think the hops will drop off leaving some lingering pine and wood, and this will really open up. Right now, 'dis shit is hoppy. At 10.0% ABV, this is pretty smooth, and supported by light carbonation. Palate depth is a bit thin between front and mid palate, and complexity is moderate to low for the style (even as an Imperial Red). I would say the mouthfeel here is medium-full, slightly sticky, and pretty dry. Up front is malt sweetness, and then woody hops; the middle rolls into bitterness, wood, grapefruit, rind, pine; the back end features brown sugar, dryness, lingering hops, and boozy bread/caramel/toffee.

Rating: Average

I'm feeling a Strong Average here. I think I've been a bit spoiled with my Imperial Reds and Barleywines. This beer has a lot of potential, but it's not dialing up the complexity, and that front to mid-palate leaves me wondering what this beer will taste like in 1 to 3 years. I may have to pick up another bottle of this to age...because why the fuck not. This beer has a lot of aging potential, I think. There's some malt complexity in the back of this. As far as food pairings...anything burger, steak, strong cheese, BBQ, or even something spicy. I'd pair this beer with some wings, to be honest. I could go for some wings. Mmm...wings.

Random Thought: I understand that Pipeworks is turning out an insane amount of beer (it's really impressive seeing all their new stuff on the shelves!), but at some point...it would be nice to see their website up and running. I mean, it's up...and sort of running. But I guess they are trying to win me over with their beer, not their website.